Book of Challenges
by Flowergaze
Summary: Simply challenges for MoonClan, and if you're sensitive to extremely negative things, I would not recommend reading this.
1. Challenge 1 - Her Reign

"Streamfang! Come back! What about our kits?!" A pale brown tabby tom yowled, running as fast as he could, after the long-haired gray tabby she-cat.  
"Birchtail, they are not my kits! They never were mine, they were always yours! I never wanted any, but you were my best friend so I had them for you! But since they were born, I felt nothing for them! Absolutely nothing! As if they were never born from me!" The gray tabby molly, now known as Streamfang, turned around, tail lashing, voice cracking as she confessed.  
"Streamfang. ."  
"Don't, Birchtail. What's done is done. Let sleeping cats lie."  
"No! I won't, Streamfang! You're leaving your kits because of me! You're leaving your clan because of me!"  
"Yes, that's correct."  
"Who knew that you were so pathetic! You act as if I killed your mother or the kits, for StarClan's sake!" He growled.  
"You could've." She spit back coldly.  
"And you know what! I will too!" He retorted, yellow eyes glinting with anger.

A moon had passed, and the clan was in tatters. Streamfang's mother was the clan leader, Patchstar. Her mother had chosen a power hungry cat as deputy, Briarthorn, before passing, and Briarstar chose Birchtail as her deputy. Briarstar made every single cat train with claws unsheathed, attacked the new apprentices, even chose expecting queens to go after a pair of foxes. The kits had been only a moon old when they were murdered by their father.  
The terrible reign over the torn clan went on for two more moons until Streamfang made her move. Birchtail had been killed, supposedly by a badger, as the rest of the clan says.

"Poor Streamfang, Birchtail was her mate and best friend. And to lose her kits recently too." An elder sympathized, shaking her dark gray tabby head slowly with her eyes closed.  
"Streamfang also lost her mother, just as well, Grayfeather." Another elder, a dark brown tabby tom, added.  
"I know, Timberstripe, it's just sad to see so many good cats go."

Even though Birchtail's murdering had been ended, Briarstar's had not. She chose Streamfang as her deputy, but during the several moons of Briarstar's reign, the long-haired gray tabby hadn't once gotten the spiky-furred brown tabby she-cat alone. Until one day, it was a rainy day, and Briarstar had asked her deputy to go on a walk with her.

Once they were far away from camp, the spiky-furred dark brown tabby she-cat had her deputy pinned into the mud.  
"Admit it, you killed him!"  
"I killed him, and he killed my mother and my kits all because of a stupid fight!"  
"You killed my deputy!"  
"I am your deputy!"  
"Not anymore, you're not." Briarstar dug her claws into her deputy's throat, and quickly slashed. "Aren't you at least glad I gave you a quick death?" The spiky-furred dark brown tabby remarked harshly, picking up the long-haired corpse and dragging it towards the now flooding river and dropped it in.  
"My reign isn't over, Streamfang. Rest well in StarClan."


	2. Challenge 2 - Darkshadow's Story

"Mistdrop! Mistdrop! Can you tell me a story? Please!" A small brown tabby kit ran into a den made of fallen branches and brambles, accidentally knocking into an elderly blind gray she-cat.  
"Calm down, Owlkit. Give me a moment to think of a story, and you, just listen." Mistdrop began thinking of all the stories she'd heard in her long life, and suddenly thought of one. "Have you heard the story of Darkshadow?"  
"The retired medicine cat?"  
"Yes."  
"No, but I want to!"  
"Alright, there once was a clan, that thought all black-pelted kits were terrible luck because one black cat had caused massive chaos on this specific clan. The two parents of the kit, were Stonestar and Featherfall."  
"Did either of them have any black-pelted siblings?"  
"Yes, Stonestar's sister, Shadesky. Now let me begin."

ForestClan cats believed black-pelted cats to be bad, because Stonestar's sister, Shadesky, remember her?, she murdered many cats.  
"What does murdered mean, Mistdrop?"  
Oh dear, I got myself in a tangle this time, didn't I? Owlkit, the word means bad cats send other cats to StarClan. Shadesky even killed her own parents, but even the cruelest cat has their reasons.  
"What do you mean by that, Mistdrop?"  
Shadesky had her reason to harm, because in a battle, a very foolish battle, I might add, all four of her kits had been killed. For some reason, no cat in the clan gave her time to recover after losing all of her kits, they sent her to train the other apprentices involved in the battle. Shadesky was very hurt, and no one even bothered to ask if she was alright, they all seemed to give the pity to the father of the kits. The poor black she-cat seemed to grow bitter and resentful towards all of her clan, until they changed her name to Shadeheart, for the shade that grew in her heart. "What happened?" Owlkit, stop interrupting, please. She began picking off her clan, and she started with her parents, one by one, until her brother, Stonefrost, became deputy. Shadeheart had begun to plan to go after her brother, and a moon later, Stonefrost became leader. Featherfall, a new warrior, had become the leader's mate, and was soon expecting kits. Shadeheart was still so distraught over losing her kits, she wanted to make sure Featherfall wouldn't have hers, so she aimed for her. Unfortunately, that didn't end too well for Shadeheart.  
"Why not?"  
Because Shadeheart had accidentally planned it at the wrong time, so when Stonestar and his mate went on a walk through the forest, they received a nasty surprise. Alright, now I think I'll start doing the dialogue.

"Shadeheart! What are you doing here? And why are acting so aggressive?" The heavily pregnant silver tabby, Featherfall, asked, to the growling black she-cat.  
"I'm here to kill you. Because you have a chance to raise your kits, unlike me! My kits were taken away from me when they were barely old enough to be apprentices! I was even renamed because my hurt is apparently my fault! Because it's totally my fault when my kits were killed! Definitely!" The black she-cat was screeching at this point, and lunged at Featherfall.

"Oh no! Is Featherfall gonna be ok?!"  
"Owlkit, she'll be fine, you should be worried about Shadeheart. She has no one to defend her."

"You will not harm her!" The large gray tabby tom, Stonestar, snarled, now standing in front of the shell-shocked silver she-cat, as his sister was hit back.  
"Or what? What are you gonna do?" Shadeheart sassed back, ears flat on her head.  
"What I should've done a long time ago, when you were renamed." The large gray tabby tom slashed his unsheathed paw across her throat.

"Maybe you shouldn't be telling this story to a kit."  
"Owlkit, if it were completely inappropriate to tell you, I wouldn't have, just please listen."

Shadeheart was dead, and Featherfall, in a twist of events, gave birth at the very same spot a life had been taken. She had four kits, the very same amount of kits that Shadeheart lost. Three of them were gray tabbies, and one was black. Exactly like Shadeheart. The three gray tabbies had been named Graykit, Streamkit, and Splashkit, the black kit had been named Darkkit.

"Finally, the start of the story!"  
"Yes, it is."  
"Did Shadeheart get a proper burial?"  
"Yes, she did. Featherfall and Smokeflash made sure of that."  
"Is it Smokestar?"  
"Smokeflash, at the time was Shadeheart's mate, not to mention a she-cat."  
"Then how did they have kits?"  
"Through Finchfang and Shadeheart. Don't worry, Smokeflash was alright with it, in fact it was her idea."  
"Wait, is that why Shadeheart went after parents first?"  
"Because they tormented her after she told them as an apprentice, and yes, it is."  
"How do you know so much about this story?"  
"Because my parents were Pebblewhisker and Streamfeather. Pebblewhisker was a 'paw when it all happened. Not to mention this actually wasn't too long ago."

Darkkit had been ridiculed since the day she was born because after Shadeheart died, Stonestar spilled the truth to the clan cats. After a chat with Snowspark, Darkkit had decided that she was going to save this clan, even if she was gong to die trying. After all four kits had grown to be six moons old, and it had been time for their apprentice ceremony. However, Stonestar had decided to outlaw Darkkit and Featherfall for giving birth to the kit. This action upset most of the clan, since they hadn't agreed to outlaw a kit, and a queen. So the elders, the parents of Featherfall and Rippleblaze, left with them, along with the other three kits, and Smokeflash, who was also the deputy at the time.  
Although at the next Gathering, Stonestar had tried to hide what he had done, but Snowspark wasn't having any of it. The medicine cat exposed the truth, and the other clan leaders were so upset that Stonestar had exiled most of his clan, that they declared war.  
A moon later, the war had begun. And since it did, every single cat left in ForestClan had left to find the missing group, only Stonestar was left to fight against the three clans.  
The clan that left when the war begun had finally found the missing group of cats, and soon they all returned. Since they had returned, the other clans were deciding against war. And not to mention, during the time that the cats had been gone, Stonestar had been killed by the leader of CaveClan. Smokeflash became Smokestar, and yes, you were right, I didn't want to spoil it before you knew, the new deputy became your aunt, Rowanthistle. Who am I forgetting? Oh yes, that's right. I forgot the kits, Darkkit became Snowspark's apprentice, Streamkit to Wingfall, Splashkit to Finchfang, and Graykit to Rowanthistle. After another four moons or so, the littermates earned their names. Darkpaw became Darkshadow, Streampaw to Streamfeather, my mother, and Graypaw to Graysplash, in honor of his brother that died fighting a badger to save him.

"Whoa, that was really cool! Darkshadow, did you really have a war started over you?" The small brown tabby kit almost squealed with excitement, looking towards the ancient black she-cat in the den.  
"Not over me entirely. It was about my siblings as well, not to mention all the other cats that left too."  
"I'm gonna be as cool as you someday! I wanna be a medicine cat too!"  
"I'm sure you will make a much better medicine cat."  
"Alright, now run along Owlkit, I'm sure your mother would want you back in the nursery." The blind she-cat purred in amusement, now leaning against the older cat.


	3. Challenge 3 - Out of Thyme

"Thymepaw! It's time to get up, we're have a patrol to do! You can't laze around like this as a warrior!" A thin, but strongly built cream and white tabby huffed, parading into the apprentice den, her tail whipping back and forth as she'd been waiting for her apprentice to wake up for a while.  
"Aww, but Daisyfang, can't I just sleep in a little longer?" A small dark brown tabby tom groaned, curling up even tighter into his nest.  
"I've let you in sleep in long enough. Now get up." The she-cat, now known as Daisyfang, bitterly noted before promptly walking out of the den.  
 _Oh, fox-dung. Now I might be stuck picking ticks out of the elders' pelts. I better get going._ He thought, before dragging himself out, grumbling quietly the entire way to his annoyed mentor.

Turns out, he was on the dawn patrol with the most annoying apprentice ever. She was just so perfect at everything, and he hated her, because he wasn't as great as her. Even his own mentor wanted Hailpaw to be her apprentice instead of Thymepaw, but she'd never dare to ask the leader to get a different apprentice.

"Hey Thymepaw, maybe we can go hunting later? To feed the queens and elders, of course." The ash-flecked gray molly asked, her tail tip flicking in slight nervousness.  
"With you? Not happening." He answered bluntly, not even noticing her nervousness. "Now, let's get going, we've got a river to fish in."

They'd finally made it the river, and they began to fish at the bank. The younger apprentice kept trying to impress him, with no result. "Thymepaw, did you see that? I caught one before you did!" She did this for quite some time, before he'd finally snapped on her.

"Can you just stop being so annoying, Hailpaw?" The dark brown tabby exclaimed, his ears pinned to his head.  
"But I-" She attempted to intercept  
"No but's, Hailpaw! Just quit!" He replied, before being shoved into the river harshly. She walked away with her catches, as he was tossed around in the current. The river had gotten stronger as it got later into the day, and it was a shame as Thymepaw couldn't swim.

His head bobbed up and down the river, and the apprentice kept trying to swim, but to no avail. It was useless. He would never make it out of the river alive. "Hailpaw! You probably can't hear me, but I'm sorry!" He apologized loudly, splashing around and panicking as the current dragged him underneath.  
He fought, and he fought against the river, trying his best to escape the monstrous river. His head went back above water, him noticing Hailpaw looking absolutely torn. "Don't jump in, Hailpaw! The current is too strong!" At his exclamation, the younger apprentice looked like she was going to cry before calling out to him.  
"I'm sorry, Thymepaw! I didn't mean for this to happen!"  
"It's not your fault!" At times, his sentences had been cut off by water entering his mouth and the river almost dragging him down once again. She gave him a look of determination, before running off suddenly.

The moment she was out of sight, he was dragged under the current. _I guess I'm out of time now, huh? Hah, time-thyme. Get it? Even while I'm dying, I'm laughing at my own mouse-brained jokes. Wow._


End file.
